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I have no doubt that Serena puts up with a lot of nonsense on the WTA tour. Being a black player from a poor background surrounded by the Henriettas of this world - who you beat remorselessly and consistently - is probably going to make everyone paranoid. But, as far as I can tell, she gets no more or less violations than anyone else when actually playing. She went off on one against a woman line judge when losing to Clijsters a while back so it's not like it's out of character or new since she became a mum.

I have no doubt that Serena puts up with a lot of nonsense on the WTA tour. Being a black player from a poor background surrounded by the Henriettas of this world - who you beat remorselessly and consistently - is probably going to make everyone paranoid. But, as far as I can tell, she gets no more or less violations than anyone else when actually playing. She went off on one against a woman line judge when losing to Clijsters a while back so it's not like it's out of character or new since she became a mum.

Outside the British scene (which hasn't had a major tournament winner in decades), I'd hardly call the majority of female Tennis players "Henriettas", especially those from the former Eastern Bloc. A lot of them have got to the top the hard way too.

The incident in the Clijsters match was particularly unpleasant.

However, when Serena's playing and not erupting, she's fantastic to watch. Everyone bangs on about her power and aggression, but she has a better all-round, all-court, all-surface game than her rivals, and has done for years. A lot of that comes from being one of the few top stars (male or female) who plays regular doubles.

The sexism part is reference to would a judge dock a game off a male player for a similar rant, not her opponent.

Plenty of those involved in tennis are suggesting that she may be right on that point.

And plenty are pointing out that Patrick Mouratoglou admitted he was coaching her from the sidelines, which (when it is spotted, which isn't always) carries a penalty for any player. And she smashed her racquet, which carries a penalty for any player. And she verbally abused the umpire, which carries a penalty for any player.

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For me this is the fundamental problem with identity politics. She played the sex card, she could just as easily played the race card.

As RL fans we are all well too aware of the problems of officiating games. There are many one-eyed RL fans who think that referees are biased for teams and against their teams. It is usually laughed off and dismissed.

When it comes to IdPol it isn't just taken seriously, it is very difficult to argue against because of the toxic atmosphere surrounding it. A large proportion of people will simply presume she is right and a significant number will not want to say she might be wrong.

It could be sexism, it could also be 100 other things. Give it a couple of days and you'll have one side saying its sexism and the other side getting called sexist for disagreeing.

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If I wrote a piece about how Wayne Rooney has suffered prejudice all his life for being rough/ugly/scouse/working class so it's understandable that he has a go at refs would it be a good piece?

A couple of years ago Widnes played Saints in a tight game. There was a melee towards the end and Child sent off two Widnes players and no Saints players. Widnes fans were livid and there were the inevitable accusations of corruption and bias towards the bigger sides. It was soon forgotten.

Imagine if Widnes had a squad exclusively of players of African descent and the coach came out and called it racism. It would've been big news and there'd have been pieces proving how Widnes are treated differently from other sides. Few people would question it even if they thought it was rubbish.

The result would be forever used as proof of racism in RL.

2

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It seems like yet another situation where people (mainly on social media) can use it to justify what they want to believe and see it in black and white terms rather than acknowledge various shades of grey.

Just because the umpire correctly applied the laws of the game in this case doesn't mean that there aren't double standards related to sexism in tennis - after all, the same umpire has repeatedly allowed male players to throw sustained verbal abuse at him with nothing more than a warning. I fail to see why one occasion of abuse could result in a warning but another incident within the same game doesn't warrant another, so surely there are questions to be asked. The incident with Alize Cornet has already highlighted that there are double standards in the game.

However, the Serena supporters will be completely unwilling to accept that she has flaws, and that just because there may be double standards in tennis doesn't mean that the umpire was wrong to punish her the way he did, or that her outburst was justified. It absolutely wasn't. You cannot call the umpire a 'thief' and a 'liar' for applying the rules then take the moral high ground. If he punishes female players more harshly than male then I don't see why the issue shouldn't be raised, but you can be right about something and completely wrong in your actions at the same time.

Also, this isn't the first time that Serena has abused an umpire and the language she uses doesn't paint her in a particularly appealing light. This is what she said to Eva Asderaki at the US Open in 2012:

Quote

"Are you the one that screwed me over the last time here? You're nobody. You're ugly on the inside. We were in America last time I checked, you're totally out of control. You're a hater and you're unattractive inside. What a loser."

No one can justify abuse like that towards officials in any sport, and her most recent outburst is also unacceptable. So while she may be inspirational for many reasons, and be completely valid in calling out sexism in tennis, the attitude, sense of entitlement and contempt towards officials that she's shown on more than one occasion should not be condoned simply because she is a legend of the game, or has been fighting for a valid cause throughout her life/career.

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It seems like yet another situation where people (mainly on social media) can use it to justify what they want to believe and see it in black and white terms rather than acknowledge various shades of grey.

Just because the umpire correctly applied the laws of the game in this case doesn't mean that there aren't double standards related to sexism in tennis - after all, the same umpire has repeatedly allowed male players to throw sustained verbal abuse at him with nothing more than a warning. I fail to see why one occasion of abuse could result in a warning but another incident within the same game doesn't warrant another, so surely there are questions to be asked. The incident with Alize Cornet has already highlighted that there are double standards in the game.

However, the Serena supporters will be completely unwilling to accept that she has flaws, and that just because there may be double standards in tennis doesn't mean that the umpire was wrong to punish her the way he did, or that her outburst was justified. It absolutely wasn't. You cannot call the umpire a 'thief' and a 'liar' for applying the rules then take the moral high ground. If he punishes female players more harshly than male then I don't see why the issue shouldn't be raised, but you can be right about something and completely wrong in your actions at the same time.

Also, this isn't the first time that Serena has abused an umpire and the language she uses doesn't paint her in a particularly appealing light. This is what she said to Eva Asderaki at the US Open in 2012:

No one can justify abuse like that towards officials in any sport, and her most recent outburst is also unacceptable. So while she may be inspirational for many reasons, and be completely valid in calling out sexism in tennis, the attitude, sense of entitlement and contempt towards officials that she's shown on more than one occasion should not be condoned simply because she is a legend of the game, or has been fighting for a valid cause throughout her life/career.

The problem I have with this incident is that she went straight to sexism. Others will then only accept sexism as the answer. She then tried to tie her example in spuriously to other actual examples as if she was just making a point, completely overshadowing her opponent's victory.

As I said earlier there are 100 reasons that could explain the umpire's behaviour. Even if we accept that there was wrong-doing and there was a double standard, I will narrow it down two:

1) He was being sexist

2) He lost his cool and lost control of a big event

As RL fans we know number 2 can happen. We've all seen refereeing performances where it looks like they've lost it and act erratic in a vain attempt and get the game back under control. How are some people so certain it can only be 1?

It being unprecedented isn't enough on its own. I'm not sure James Child had ever sent 2 players off from one side and none from the other side during a flare up. It didn't mean Widnes were being oppressed.

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The problem I have with this incident is that she went straight to sexism. Others will then only accept sexism as the answer.

As I said earlier there are 100 reasons that could explain the umpire's behaviour. Even if we accept that there was wrong-doing and there was a double standard, I will narrow it down two:

1) He was being sexist

2) He lost his cool and lost control of a big event

As RL fans we know number 2 can happen. We've all seen refereeing performances where it looks like they've lost it and act erratic in a vain attempt and get the game back under control. How are some people so certain it can only be 1?

It being unprecedented isn't enough on its own. I'm not sure James Child had ever sent 2 players off from one side and none from the other side during a flare up. It didn't mean Widnes were being oppressed.

I agree. This incident surely warrants a discussion and maybe an investigation rather than a witch hunt.

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I agree. This incident surely warrants a discussion and maybe an investigation rather than a witch hunt.

As ever actual evidence is the way forward. If there was a study that proved women were penalised more for similar actions then they could go from there. One isolated incident proves nothing. Gender is a convenient excuse that has successfully distracted from her quite appalling behaviour. Nobody celebrates footballers for having a go at refs, this is probably worse.

Serena is being treated as a martyr in many quarters. The irony is if they were RL fans they'd no doubt be the type laughing at say Leigh fans for thinking the referees are against them because they don't want them in SL.

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As ever actual evidence is the way forward. If there was a study that proved women were penalised more for similar actions then they could go from there. One isolated incident proves nothing. Gender is a convenient excuse that has successfully distracted from her quite appalling behaviour. Nobody celebrates footballers for having a go at refs, this is probably worse.

Serena is being treated as a martyr in many quarters. The irony is if they were RL fans they'd no doubt be the type laughing at say Leigh fans for thinking the referees are against them because they don't want them in SL.

It's essentially the same thing.

I think this is right. I heard many people support her, but didn't see them present clear examples.

They used the umpire coaching the crazy Aussie guy, but those situations are not the same thing and the umpire got a roasting after it.

We need examples where male players have been allowed to get away with receiving coaching, and examples where they were allowed to smash their racquet without punishment. I also would like examples where a male player has got away with calling an umpire a liar and a thief.

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I think this is right. I heard many people support her, but didn't see them present clear examples.

They used the umpire coaching the crazy Aussie guy, but those situations are not the same thing and the umpire got a roasting after it.

We need examples where male players have been allowed to get away with receiving coaching, and examples where they were allowed to smash their racquet without punishment. I also would like examples where a male player has got away with calling an umpire a liar and a thief.

She seemed like a nasty piece of work on the clip I saw tbh.

Yeah I also felt for the winner who’s had her first grand slam win ruined by Serena being a bad loser.

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I think this is right. I heard many people support her, but didn't see them present clear examples.

They used the umpire coaching the crazy Aussie guy, but those situations are not the same thing and the umpire got a roasting after it.

We need examples where male players have been allowed to get away with receiving coaching, and examples where they were allowed to smash their racquet without punishment. I also would like examples where a male player has got away with calling an umpire a liar and a thief.

She seemed like a nasty piece of work on the clip I saw tbh.

There's an almost overwhelming body of evidence to show that any other player, male or female, would have received the exact three penalties she received. The only even vaguely controversial one is the coaching one which, incidentally, the coach admitted to doing.

And she has form for reacting exactly the same way when losing big games.

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I think this is right. I heard many people support her, but didn't see them present clear examples.

They used the umpire coaching the crazy Aussie guy, but those situations are not the same thing and the umpire got a roasting after it.

We need examples where male players have been allowed to get away with receiving coaching, and examples where they were allowed to smash their racquet without punishment. I also would like examples where a male player has got away with calling an umpire a liar and a thief.

She seemed like a nasty piece of work on the clip I saw tbh.

I think we would need examples from across men's and women's tennis with a clear difference either way.

Even if he did go way further than he had before, one incident isn't proof of sexism or racism.